Subject: Fw: [Tweeters] Columbia, Franklin, Whitman Counties
Date: Aug 23 21:34:18 2015
From: plkoyama at comcast.net - plkoyama at comcast.net


Tweets,
This is the one Blair B (gently) tagged me on! All dates back one week?i.e. 8/25=8/18, etc. I need medication!!!
Penny Koyama, Bothell

From: plkoyama at comcast.net
Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2015 1:21 PM
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Columbia, Franklin, Whitman Counties

Tweets,
Here?s our typically late report on another EWA venture, probably useful mostly to the various county compilers and other record keepers. We spent 2 nights in Dayton on 8/25-26 where the weather was hot and the skies were smoky due to the sad, scary fires further north.

On 8/25 we came in via Franklin County?s Scooteney Reservoir, where the water was so high that the ?mid-lake? island, usually good for seasonal shorebirds, was just a rock big enough for a couple of DC Cormorants. However, in response to play-back, the marsh at the far end of the park where the road curves to the right, then ends, produced both Virginia Rail (code 2) and a surprise Sora (code 4) initially answering to the VIRA call. On the way home on 8/27, we stopped at Lyon?s Ferry, which has now reopened as a State Park. There were a few BN Stilts (code 3) but no other shorebirds. The north edge of the park, though, was fairly birdy with the best find being Lesser Goldfinches (code 5) where young were being fed by busy parents. A Gray Flycatcher (code 5) was tail-dipping in the dry shrubbery there and a pair of Willow Flycatchers (code 3) were working the area near the restrooms. The long, brushy walk out on the causeway (note to self: bring machete next time) wasn?t worth it, with only a couple of Caspian Terns to be seen.
In Columbia Co. we also saw LEGOs on 8/26 at the Little Goose Dam Visitor Center, where they must be fairly regular by now?young were evident there, too. There was also at least one family of Wilson?s Warblers (Code 3) at the V Center. Before that, though, we had a great morning trip from Dayton up Touchet Rd. to the Bluewood Ski Area with a Gray Flycatcher (Code 5), Cordilleran Flycatcher (Code 3), Pileated (Code 3), Downy & Hairy Woodpeckers, and Code 2 Golden Eagle, Sharp-shinned & Cooper?s hawks. Most exciting to us, though, was the find of a large pond well after MP 12, partially obscured by trees?ducks!! There were about 10 N Shovelers, one N Pintail, and one GW Teal, along with a few Mallards?we are now up to 9 waterfowl species in Columbia?hoooey!! In the afternoon we went up Tucannon Rd. as far as Spring Lake where we had a nervous flock of GW Teal (ho hum now), a Bald Eagle (Code 2), and a Virginia Rail (Code 4) responding to a what-the-heck-let?s-try playback.

On 8/25 in Whitman County Sheep Lake was dry, but we had Code 3 Western and Baird?s Sandpipers at Crooked Knee Lake off Hwy 23. We didn?t see any shorebirds at Rock Lake, later learning from expert Tom Mansfield that there was another nearby area to check out. But we had yet another Code 5 Gray Flycatcher (bigger, gray, and to me, more ?normal? looking than the other empids, plus the tail dip) and Code 3 Wood Ducks where Rock Creek enters the lake near Ewan.

The sky had cleared on 8/27, but the wind had picked up, which we knew was no favor to firefighters and residents in Okanogan and Chelan Counties. We were wondering what changes we?ll see there next time we head that way.
Penny Koyama, Bothell
plkoyama at comcast dot net


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